OK I've tried to do this, but Kimma ends up going in to a sit LOL. If I face her and give her the back up command (I say "back it") she's fine, but somehow facing the same direction makes her sit? Tell me your ways!!!

Against my better judgement both Payton and Auggie will jump into my lap while sitting on a regular chair. Georgie still won't jump into my lap when I'm on a stool but she is not clicker-savvy so everything is harder with her. My mom says "it's because you train THEM more than HER! Georgie, she IGNORES you!"
Georgie isn't my dog, LOL.

OK I've tried to do this, but Kimma ends up going in to a sit LOL. If I face her and give her the back up command (I say "back it") she's fine, but somehow facing the same direction makes her sit? Tell me your ways!!!

I purely shape all of my behaviors... so it's standing with my legs spread out waiting for any backward movement in the right direction. From there it's just reward placement to help reinforce where you want the dog to be.

If you facing her causes her to sit, I would work on getting her cue to sit under stimulus control and work on breaking that default first. Turn towards her, click for not sitting and then cue the sit or another behavior. Eventually turn towards her and wait for longer amounts of time before rewarding for not sitting.

Oh and I have found with dogs that are not savvy on shaping and default sit you can shove a fist of treats under their nose and wait for any backwards movement to pop open the palm, repeating that a few times will get them moving. I also have found some of the denser dogs benefit from a foot or hand under the belly to assist with standing until they understand what you're asking.

I vastly prefer to free shape but with my clients it's not always an option and with Backup he still struggles, a lot.

I purely shape all of my behaviors... so it's standing with my legs spread out waiting for any backward movement in the right direction. From there it's just reward placement to help reinforce where you want the dog to be.

If you facing her causes her to sit, I would work on getting her cue to sit under stimulus control and work on breaking that default first. Turn towards her, click for not sitting and then cue the sit or another behavior. Eventually turn towards her and wait for longer amounts of time before rewarding for not sitting.

LOL no it's facing the same direction as her that causes her to sit when she goes to back up. So if she's in heel position and I wait, sometimes she will move backwards and I click/treat, which is good. She will move backwards pretty far, too. But as soon as I try to move backwards with her, she sits. I guess I will just start by leaning backwards and go smaller/slower.

I've been able to shape any backward movement thus far, and that's what I would prefer to continue doing

Against my better judgement both Payton and Auggie will jump into my lap while sitting on a regular chair. Georgie still won't jump into my lap when I'm on a stool but she is not clicker-savvy so everything is harder with her. My mom says "it's because you train THEM more than HER! Georgie, she IGNORES you!"
Georgie isn't my dog, LOL.